The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1887-08-26

off to one side to indulge in quiet reverie you
regarded with suspicion and made to feel I'M
comfortable until you .move on"
After Chillon. it Is rather a slow and weari-
some ride by boat for few minutes. and by rail
for few miles and hours, to Vernayaz, where
the new Tete Noir route starts for Chamounlx.
AS lonesome a night could well be imagined
was the one at Vernayaz. The Alps closed IN
all around, shutting you in small valley, the
precipitous sides of which were really oppressive.
Near the hotel is a remarkable rift in the rocks.
called the George du TRENT" we'll worthy Wis
it. By some Titanic twist or wrench of nature
the mountain has been split, the opening is mar
row that the never penetrates it, and You
look up hundreds and hundreds of feet to see
only little point of sky, where you can see it
at all. beyond the beeting rocks. Through this
tortuous channel a tremendous waterfall makes
its passionate way to join the Rhone in
the outside valley. Swiss thrift has built
stairway about the side Of the
gorge, upon which, by the payment OF a
proper fee, you can walk half mile into the
very heart of the mountain. It is a weird ex-
perience. and quite startling when at some turn
you come full upon another tourist returning
from the further end or just entering upon the
defle. II you have guide he will shoot off
ensues as fairly makes ''tenderfoot" trembe.
Take it for all in all, this the ghostliest
perience ever had. AS faint idea of it, the
scene where Rip comes across the dwarf on the
mountain side, and is introduced to Hendrick
Hudson's crew with their ehostly ten-pns. came
to my mind. 1t made the flesh crawl and creep.
The ride over the Tete Noir pass is very much
like any other ride pass. Now and then
her ms ha favo Mt Of or
q more beautiful landscape, as, for instance, at
a point just beyond the village of Fnhauts.
about at the summit. A fairer prospect could
not be imagined, with the deep shaded valley Of
the Eau Noir the Gorge of the TRENT, the
Aguilles Tor Needles shooting up their peaks all
around and in front and distance the beautiful
bosom and summit of Mont Blanc The mount
aims full of pensions and of travellers. The
number of foot travellers is remarkable-the
majority of them women. and nearly all English
women. With their alpenstocks in hand they
are making the most of their walk, taking their
time to it, and stopping at the pensions
night and during the hottest hours Of the day.
If any one wanted place to rest. to walk at
will. to sit in enchanted land far
cry could make it, l can recommend the neigh
borhood of Finhauts the Tete Noir pass.
Next to the number of foot travellers and women
you meet these passes, the most striking
thing is the number of priests and fathers,
dressed in their long black robes and with their
broad rim med round crowns. They black
crows in dress. and generally sleek and we'll
fed men. Caesar would have had trouble in
getting all the companions of that kind he need
ed in travelling over the Alp passes. Some way
or other 1 could not but feel that there may
have been more truth than poetry in the stories
of Margaret of Anjou. Another thing about the
passes is the amount and style of beggary.
Everybody begs. The children are brought up
to it as the Spartan lads were to thieving. There
is the old man, abject and stricken, with hat in
hand, and there is the wee fodder who runs out
at you with wild flower. and expects a sou in
return for his blossom and his bland and child
like smile Between these the whole gamut OF
mendicancy is Girls and boys with bou-
quets gooseberries, cherries. milk and all sorts
of things. beset you; hulks of men, winding their
Alpine horns, when they hear the wheels of a
carriage approach; women with every manner Of
trlnket, and quite frequently dame sitting I'M
der an umbrella tree deftly knitting the Pc
culiar Swiss laces. All these devices are
to attract the passenger and to get him
to transfer few sous francs
to their pockets. do Tot blame the people
much. How they make living cannot see,
except for what money they extract from the
swarms of travellers who come here in summer
time. They must make hay while the sun
shines, and the shines but short time
Yet the Swiss are hardy and a hard working
people. They are frugal and thrifty. They put
every foot of Idle land under contribution. With
infinite pains they build stone terraces to pro-
tect their little fields and keep them from slip
ping away during the night. No sight is more
picturesque than these terraced nillsIdes, where
the fields have been thrust to the very utter
most verge, as if to wrest from nature the last
reluctant grain of wheat blade of grass
Chalets and fields to be away up where
it would seem impossible for a fly to stick
Which leads me to remark just here. that the
Alpine fly is the most Internal institution ever
invented or conceived. "A horse-fy or a CAD fly
is innocent party. and it is persistent and
as the other beggars. only this is a
robber. If George Harding had ever
wonld have added another stanza to his poem on
tie subject Switzerland may be and is a beau
tiful country in the summer, but 1 would not
want to live here. The battle for life is too
stern. The droppings the roadway are sedu-
lousy gathered up, and in the hardest work,
and the most mental. the women generally
employed In the Alpine section, far 1
observed the men nearly all guides though
now and then male person would be seen at
work guide is a superior person. He is a
lofty and unapproachable deity All do obei-
sance to him. Nearing Chamounix my driver
overlook man, and invited him to a seat beside
him. AS ne best could be introduced him to
me Mont Blanc guide. with an air as
though he expected would fall down and wor-
ship him. When got to Chamounix, the habitat
OF the guide, found him in the middle of the
street. in groups. talking and smoking. and
waiting to be hired. When the chef sent for
him he appeared, but would do nothing toward
Harvesting the mu,es-a woman must do all
hat When mule and man were ready the |
awful guide took his place by the animals |
oridle, and from then until he delivered you at |
he hotel in the evening you wers more TOW in